Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

BATTLEFIELDS AND BURIAL GROUNDS, by Roger C. and Walter B. Echo-Hawk

Reposting an old post (from Jan 2008) because today, at the 2012 mtg of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, I'm listening to Walter B. Echo-Hawk address the rights of Indigenous Peoples. As he talks, Bunky Echo-Hawk does his art on the right of the stage (and it is featured in a large screen center of the stage itself).

____________________

Thinking,
today, about three four items: Museums, American Indians, the Native
American Graves and Repatriation Act, and a book called Battlefield's and Burial Grounds.

On
Friday I was in Chicago giving a workshop for teachers. It took place
at Chicago's Field Museum. During my presentation, I showed slides of
the ways that American Indians are portrayed in children's books. Among
the slides is one from Sid Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur. Published in 1958 it is a perennial favorite and part of HarperCollins I Can Read series. In
the story, Danny goes to a museum. Inside he sees "An Indian, a bear,
and an Eskimo" in one of the exhibits. I showed a slide of that page in
my presentation. There is much to say about why American Indians are
placed alongside animals, but the point I wish to make today is about
American Indian artifacts and remains that are held by museums across
the country.

In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). From the NAGPRA website:

NAGPRA
provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to
return certain Native American cultural items -- human
remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural
patrimony -- to lineal descendants, and culturally affiliated
Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA
includes provisions for unclaimed and culturally
unidentifiable Native American cultural items,
intentional and inadvertent discovery of Native American
cultural items on Federal and tribal lands, and penalties for
noncompliance and illegal trafficking.

In 1994, Lerner published a terrific book for children about the work of
American Indians whose work led to NAGPRA. The book is called Battlefields and Burial Grounds: The Indian Struggle to Protect Ancestral Graves in the United States,
by Roger C. Echo-Hawk and Walter R. Echo-Hawk. Unfortunately, it is out
of print. Both men are Pawnee. This is an important book. Each year,
hundreds of teachers take their students on field trips to museums. As
you plan this year's trip, will you visit a museum that has American
Indian exhibits? If so, spend time with Battlefields and Burial Grounds before you go. It will be time well spent.

First Peoples listed AICL as one of the Top Five Native Blogs and Podcast to follow. School Library Journal's Elizabeth Burns featured AICL as her Blog of the Day on July 2, 2007, and in 2007, the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children invited Debbie to write a blog post for their site.

American Indian? Or, Native American? There is no agreement among Native peoples. Both are used. It is best to be specific. Example: Instead of "Debbie Reese, a Native American," say "Debbie Reese, a Nambe Pueblo Indian woman."